posted on April 21, 2003 03:14:28 PM new
I am pretty computer illiterate, but I have had a good domain name that I owned for over a year now and have never done anything with it. What is all involved in developing it with a shopping cart and do you people that have websites do a good business? I know this is a very broad question, but my husband is thinking of auctioning off the domain name, and I am thinking we need to have another income source besides ebay - competition is getting stronger everyday. The domain name is good - I'll post it here if I'm able to.
posted on April 21, 2003 03:33:54 PM new
With the death of the Dot Com boom, very few unestablished domains are getting big prices unless it is linked to a strong brand name or product line. Rather than auction, you should contact companies with existing sites in the field to see if they are interested in purchasing the domain to mirror thei existing site on or to autoforward from visitorrs to their existing domain. Before doing anything, try a domain broker who appraises value based on field and relevent searches etc and have it appraised.
I would try building a site and establishing business and traffic first though. If you later decide to get rid of it, you have a much more valuable entity on your hands.
posted on April 21, 2003 04:11:37 PM new
Well, it doesn't really have anything to do with any trade names, it's just a good, catchy title. I guess I'm worried about spending too much money to try to get it going, and then having nothing to show for it. Not sure how to do the search engine thing, etc. I'm already spending $1000.00 a month in ebay fees and I'm thinking it's time to try to put some of that money into my own "thing".
posted on April 21, 2003 04:24:58 PM new
I used to get cash offers for my domain name, but that hasn't happened in over three years. My guess is that search engines are so widely used now that the usefulness of a domain name is diminished.
ihula, I think your concern about putting too much money into it is a valid one. I wouldn't go ahead and attempt development without a good solid marketing plan in place. You say you're spending $1,000 a month in eBay fees...that must mean you're getting steady sales. You can't be sure of that with a web site.
Actually, what I would do in your place is contact your local SCORE chapter and see if you can hook up with a member who can help you with a marketing plan.
--
"I'm thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said `I drank WHAT?'"
posted on April 21, 2003 04:32:16 PM new
Ok, stupid question. What if I don't advertise in search engines and just put the name out there through business cards in people's packages, print ads, etc. How do I find out how much bandwidth I'm allowed to have. I assume once I develope the site I'm going to be charged more than my $20.00 a year.
posted on April 21, 2003 04:37:03 PM new
I have to admit that for me to say "launch a site" is very easy since I design them. I sometimes forget that others are not able to put together a site together free. I don't mean to be glib when I say things like that, it's just been fun and hobby for me for so long I forget.
posted on April 21, 2003 04:45:16 PM new
The cost is probably the biggest factor. I can "putz" with it in my spare time - I don't necessarily care how long it takes to get it going. I have Front Page and I should learn how to use it
Just don't want to put a lot of time and effort into something that is worthless. Have to admit it would be nice to say "You can look on my website" and not have it be some weird Vendio address. I often have buyers ask me for catalogs or lists of what I sell and I end up sending them links to the Vendio store. It would be nice to have a professional looking website - makes it seem like I'm more of a "business" than an "ebay seller".
posted on April 21, 2003 04:48:28 PM new
Also, can I post the website name here to get opinions on it? I'm starting to think maybe it's not such a great name after all. No one could "steal" it or anything if I did that could they? It's been registered to me for quite awhile.
posted on April 21, 2003 05:21:23 PM new
Well, it's www.yourummage.com. Now I'm worried people would just think I'm selling "second hand items" or things that are unwanted.
I swear by godaddy.com. They have a program that does shopping carts and it will cost 19.95 per month to host a shopping cart site with them. Domain names, should you change yours, cost only $8.95 per year. Regular sites are only $9.95 a month. NO I don't work for them. I've been using them for a while now. Our company's web site is hosted by them. You can also sell your domain name through them, should you want to sell it. The program they have to do shopping carts is very, very easy to use.
Wouldn't it have been nice if say 10 years ago you could have looked into a crystal ball and bought up domain names such as ibm.com, hp.com, etc.? Sigh. Who could have known?
I think your domain name is catchy, by the way. I'd certainly be made curious by it.
posted on April 21, 2003 06:58:28 PM new
First off I like that name. I think WWW.YouRummage.COM is a great domain name for a
Brick and Mortar rummage/bargain store. I'm not sure about a stand alone store site though.
As a Ebay store it does seem to say you're selling rummage items but that's not necessarily
a bad thing either. I like bargains. Most people do.
Now I'll put my webhosting hat on. If you called me this evening wanting a website and told
me you had a domain I'd ask a few questions. What I'd probably offer you then is server space
with some amenities (no store though) and tell you how to set the technical area of your
domain registration and how to pay me. It would most likely be under $200.00 a year depending
on what I'd think you need. I'd also give you my trouble ticket system URL and a couple e-mail
addresses. Since you would have called me I know you have my number already.
You really want a store? I'd tell you to go with Paypal for now and push those Ebay auctions
you're already showing success with. Less disappointments. If you host with someone like
me you'll get some occasional help with problems outside the server issues themselves
which would be my problem anyway. Little operations like mine can usually advise you with
coding problems the big outfits can't do.
So I've established your first and probably second and third years total website expenses
including the domain registration. Gave you an idea of what kinda hosting service you need
and tried to make it painless. Now I'd send you back a e-mail thanking you for paying me,
tell you your server is up and include your username, password and the FTP URL. to your own
host. Now all you need is to put some of your item pictures there and get started using it.
Create a page or two and put them up. You'll probably call me once or twice. You'll most
likely be excited about the site. You'll be happy.
Here's what I think you'll really get with your own website.
24/7 advertising for your company/business/organization
A couple E-mail accounts with lots of e-mail aliases @YouRummage.com
A stable location for your contact info
A place to put lots of pictures, TOS and other info.
A page to push your current specials and sales
A springboard to build a lot of traffic into what might one day become a online store
A domain name that search engines will sooner or later discover
For around under $600.00 you'll get three years of the above. Quite a bargain in my book.
If you ever get to where you think you'll need a online store there's much more to do. Much
more to spend. Much more to do. The above will get you started so you can test the waters
and you can do that for even less than the $600.00 above if you can find the right host and
are willing to D-I-Y.
posted on April 21, 2003 07:14:38 PM new
i think rummage etc is passe,how many people need to look beyond ebay to find rummage??
having a website is easy,driving traffic and generating order is a different matter.
you can have a store with vendio,Tias,collector on line,rubylane,amzn zshop,yahoo shopping,ebay ,depending on what you sell and how much you want to spend.
there is advantage in numbers,joining an existing site can give you more visibility.
dont rely on your ebay bidders to patronise your store,they are so cheap,they wait for you to drop them to ebay so they can get them for less.
posted on April 21, 2003 07:18:29 PM new
If you use paypal, they have a free shopping cart. It doesen't take that long to set up a page or two . If you start small with only a couple pages and it does good at all you could expand it.
posted on April 21, 2003 10:40:25 PM new
I'm glad this question has come up!
Sapington: Are you saying that we registered Paypal folks can get a web page through Paypal??? Never heard of that.
What I'm most interested in at this very moment is just a web page (link? site?) I can list all my collectible books on, so that I can link to it from my ebay auctions and also so that book searchers can find my books.
Is that a pipe dream? How should I try to get that? Is it even possible? I have hundreds of old collectible books and get weary just thinking about photographing them, writing up an auction description for each one, etc.
posted on April 21, 2003 10:52:37 PM new
No, they just give you the html code that you use on your own website. You still need to have a website to put it on.
You should be able to get a small website with a domain name for a few dollars a month, or without a domain name real cheap.
posted on April 21, 2003 11:32:49 PM new
Roadsmith asks, "Is that a pipe dream? How should I try to get that? Is it even
possible? I have hundreds of old collectible books and get weary just thinking
about photographing them, writing up an auction description for each one, etc."
It's not a pipe dream but it does take a lot of time and work.
Register a domain or find a hosting service that will help you register and get the
site setup. You can scan the book face down or take a digital image. You'll need
to write up the description text for each one. The more pertinent words in the book
description the better. Search Engines love words. That's how they work.
You could put the words in a simple html table with a bigger picture then a smaller
picture in the text block itself and get four on a page easy. Then duplicate the first
page as many times as needed to give you a template. Modify all the subsequent
pages with new pictures and text about your other books. Doesn't have to be fancy
to start. Of course you could start with nothing but a picture, title, author, printing
date, etc. and your asking price. Paypal has buttons and carts. Ebay offers some
search boxes and lists and pays a small commission on each sale.
You could put together a pretty nice site to augment your Ebay sales real quick
and down the road as you learn more about the ins and outs of running and
promoting a website you might find you'll have a booming business online.
If you have Front Page or another authoring tool that can use the Front Page
server extensions then uploading (publishing) the site is pretty easy once you
have a domain, host and site setup. It's just a little more tricky to use ftp but
that's the way I always upload all mine. Go for it.
posted on April 22, 2003 05:03:46 AM new
aol members get webspace and can put up a homepage.if you just want to list your books with no frill,ask if your internet service provider can do this for you.
i have seen some aol users use their webspace as a storefront.
posted on April 22, 2003 08:00:21 AM new
Road - I have to dig up the disk from my old site but I had found a site that provided a search engine just for your site. The prep work may entail more work than you want to do but when I find that disk I'll see if the site is still around and let you know, or someone lese may know of one.
posted on April 22, 2003 08:45:19 AM new
I would develop the website and see what happens. You really can develop a site for very little money--less than $500 if you already have FrontPage and you don't care if it doesn't look like one of the "big boys"--probably an advantage with your domain name and a more personal approach. Here are some URLs that you might need:
http://www.godaddy.com (website registration, domain transfer, domain forwarding, hosting--great service, very reasonable prices)
http://www.webmasters.com (domain hosting, business plan is $19.95, $5 more if you want SQL for database management--this is who hosts my site)
http://www.oscommerce.com (open source free shopping cart)
http://www.mals-e.com (free shopping cart, $6/month if you use a merchant account, free if you take PayPal)
http://www.payquake.com (tiered merchant account, very reasonable cost)
http://www.echo-inc.com (shop4shoes has recommended their merchant accounts, and they also have very reasonable terms)
http://www.adwords.google.com (for a very focused keyword marketing campaign only)
I started my website three and a half months ago. Got my merchant account at the end of March. Sales are steadily increasing, in both number and size.
But even if you putter around with it, you will need to work marketing very hard--can be difficult to do if you are a one-woman or one-man show. Good luck with your site--let us know when you've got it going so we can come look.
posted on April 22, 2003 03:41:36 PM new
Well, we signed up with Fat Cow. We had another domain parked there and decided they were pretty inexpensive - $99.00 a year including a shopping cart. We also signed up for a new domain. After talking about it last night we decided that YouRummage.com was too "I sell crappy used items". We came up with TheDealWheel.com. On the home page it will have a Wheel of Fortune type of wheel that will have the product areas on it and you can click on it to see the products.... Sound just as catchy?
Edited to add - anyone know where I can find a wheel like that to upload
[ edited by ihula on Apr 22, 2003 03:42 PM ]
posted on April 22, 2003 10:23:19 PM new
That sounds like a good setup and you have a great first page idea, too.
The wheel idea. And you have your shopping cart. Don't forget to make use
of the e-mail addresses you should get with your hosting. Put your URL on
all your communications. Business cards, your letters, your car.
One more idea. Why not have the other old domain name redirect into the
new site. Maybe redirect into a couple pages themed around rummage, used
misshapen, mishandled, misordered and plain bargains. You could do all
your clearance items there and see which one takes off.
If your host gives you site stats watch them and see which pages get the most
hits. And also compare that to sales. Your hits will tell you why a visitor came
while sales tell you what the visitor leaves with. Be patient. Advertise.
posted on April 22, 2003 10:38:31 PM new
To do that wheel idea you'll need the image itself. Try using a color wheel for
now. That has to be made into a image map also to make the colors and any
overlayed icons clickable.
Here's what I mean by color wheel. That will give you eight places to start.
You might even ask permission to use this wheel and just change it to suit.
I am not very computer literate. I am now working on a third site on tripod.lycos.com They use a "site builder" program--What you see is what you get. No computer knowlegde needed.140+ templates you can to make your own look by adding logos, pics changing colors--even the way the site is set up.., There is free space to start--then you can use their larger space - really inexpensively. And paying for space gets you a free domain or use your own. I For a shopping cart--you pick one and add the HTML to the products pages where you have your merchandise. Don't use their shopping cart provider--there are loads out there on the net cheaper.
It's free to open and try the set up! Compare it too the static sites that are offered by auctions etc.
The face of online selling is changing and I think a site is a valid selling tool. eBay will price themselves out of a lot of our pockets. And their goal is not the support of small businesses anymore. So we move on to survive.
posted on April 23, 2003 05:22:54 PM new
One of my first sites I ever built was done on a free server site builder.
Years and years ago. I captured the html with my browser and moved it
to my own rented server space. The server space was actually given to
me for helping test some e-mail software.
I kept the free server site also and later used it to point to other pages
on my regular site. That's a good idea really. Several sites under different
names linked to each other. Make them all nice and different. Add something
different to each one. Then have the links point to your main pages.
Don't forget Meta tags to assist the search engines. And do a links page on
each site covering all the other sites. That away the first site to get spidered
tells the search engine all about the other sites. Some search engines balk
at the exact same page showing up on different sites. So make the individual
sites stand alone and be different. With something different to offer (like a
freebie, information, or something to attract a community like a discussion
board or Free for All links". There's lotsa different ideas to try.
posted on April 23, 2003 05:46:47 PM new
Labelle I agree 100%. I'm trying to get off that drug "feebay" myself. The faster people learn about websites, search engines, Google adwords and Froogle the better off they will be. I grossed less last year BUT made more profit but using those techniques.
Mike
mandm50s
Cheryl